MONSTER ENERGY NASCAR CUP SERIES
WATKINS GLEN INTERNATIONAL
GOBOWLING AT THE GLEN
TEAM CHEVY PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT
AUGUST 3, 2019
WILLIAM BYRON, NO. 24 HENDRICK AUTOGUARD CAMARO ZL1 Media Breakout Session Highlights:
EVEN THOUGH YOU HAVE A BIT OF A CUSHION WITH 5 RACES REMAINING, IS THERE STILL A LOT OF PRESSURE IN KNOWING THAT OTHER GUYS HAVE FIVE SHOTS TO WIN THAT COULD PUSH YOU FURTHER DOWN THE GRID IN THE PLAYOFFS?
“Yes and now. This is always a Wild Card race. Anybody could win this one. But we’ve seen over the last couple of years the strong teams and strong drivers usually win this race. So, I’m not too worried about who’s going to win. We do have to continue to kind of stack points and try to continue to further ourselves from that conversation. I don’t know. I think we’re in a good spot. We’ve got some good tracks coming up, for sure. Darlington’s a good track. Indy is a good track for us. So, I don’t feel too worried about it.”
HAVING BEEN WITH (CREW CHIEF) CHAD KNAUS FOR HALF A YEAR, DO YOU HAVE MORE CONFIDENCE IN GOING BACK TO SOME OF THESE TRACKS FOR A SECOND TIME?
“Oh yeah, for sure. Pocono was the first time we’ve been back to a race track and we practically cut our finish in half. Finishing fourth last week was good. We’ve just got to continue to try to build on going back to these places for another time and I feel like that’s going to help us, especially with the detail notes that we have and how good we are working together.”
DO YOU ALWAYS TAPE YOUR HAND FOR ROAD COURSE RACES?
“Yeah, I usually end up taping it too late and it’s already blistered-up. So I figured I’d tape it before practice and make sure to get ahead of that. I think it’s just a personal preference thing. I don’t think it’s a big deal. Even if it does blister-up, it’s not painful during the race, but it usually lasts for a week or so. So, I figured I’d just tape it up and be done with it.”
TALK ABOUT GETTING BACK TO MICHIGAN NEXT WEEK. HAVE THE CARS EVOLVED A BIT THE EARLIER RACE THIS YEAR?
“Oh, yes. Tremendously. The last time we went to Michigan was an impound race so this time is going to be a three-day show, no impounds; so, you’re going to see a lot of different cars for qualifying and everything like that. I don’t know what to expect. It’s going to be an interesting race, for sure.”
EVEN THOUGH YOU DON’T HAVE THE HORSEPOWER THERE THAT YOU’VE HAD IN THE PAST, THERE IS A LOT OF WORK BEING DONE WITH DRAG AND DOWNFORCE TO TRY TO GET SPEED BACK. WHERE DO YOU SEE THE HENDRICK CARS GOING TO MICHIGAN?
“I really don’t know. It’s honestly kind of an unknown of where you’re going to go and how fast you’re going to be and all that. I have no idea. I think the speeds will be up from the first race, probably, I would say, upwards of eight to 10 mph just in drag and straightaway speed. So, I would say we’re going to be going closer to what we were there in the past.”
Team Chevy high-resolution racing photos are available for editorial use.
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